Night Ripper
Night Ripper is the third studio album by American mashup musician Girl Talk, released on May 9, 2006. The album is composed almost entirely of samples taken from other artists' music, along with minor original instrumentation recorded by Girl Talk himself. He constructed Night Ripper whilst working as a biomedical engineer, dividing time between both of his occupations. The album was originally produced as one seamless piece of music before subsequently being broken into individual tracks. The album was produced by Girl Talk in seven to eight months and mastered by Jonathan Schenke. Illegal Art initially released Night Ripper as a digital download on their website, later making the album available on other sites and shipping the album to select record stores due to strong demand. None of the samples used on the album were cleared prior to release, causing several online retailers to pull the album from their listings. Night Ripper was later re-released for download on the Illegal Art website through a new "pay what you want" pricing system. Background and production While still retaining the sample-based nature of Secret Diary, Unstoppable focused more on beatwork as well as structuring and layering samples into full tracks. |format=Eyl, Eryc |date=2007-10-04 |accessdate=2013-04-22}} The album's stylistic change was brought about by Girl Talk's experiences performing live, which influenced him to "make the music more accessible and push the party vibe." Following the release of Unstoppable, he spent an additional two years touring before beginning work on his third studio album. Described by Girl Talk as "a record that reflects his own personal music tastes," Night Ripper features over 300 samples of other artists' songs, spanning several decades and genres. |date=2006-08-02 |accessdate=2013-04-23 |format=Montgomery, James}} |date=2007-01-19 |accessdate=2013-04-23 |format=Klinge, Steve}} Commenting on the process of choosing samples to use, he explained: "I'll just hear something on the radio or at a party and go ahead and sample it off a CD or record or download it. I sample loops and breaks and vocal clips all the time. So I've been cataloguing samples for years, I have this massive library. Songs come out everyday so it's never ending." |date=2006-08-30 |accessdate=2013-04-23 |format=Dombal, Ryan}} The entirety of Night Ripper was produced using a WAV digital audio editor, with Girl Talk manipulating samples by chopping, layering and transitioning them. He also recorded original synthesizer and keyboard instrumentation for certain tracks. |date=2008-07-29 |accessdate=2013-04-23}} The album was created by Girl Talk as one long piece of music, which he subsequently split into individual tracks. He was also working as a biomedical engineer at the time, obliging him to divide his time between his day job and his music career, including production of the album. |date=2011-02-28 | accessdate=2013-04-22 |format=Bilton, Nick}} It took seven to eight months for Girl Talk to complete work on the album. |date=2006-12-21 |accessdate=2013-04-23 |format=Mervis, Scott}} Subsequent audio mastering was done by Jonathan Schenke. Release Critical reception Accolades Track listing # "Once Again" – 2:40 # "That's My DJ" – 2:08 # "Hold Up" – 2:50 # "Too Deep" – 2:29 # "Smash Your Head" – 3:01 # "Minute by Minute" – 3:12 # "Ask About Me" – 2:26 # "Summer Smoke" – 2:17 # "Friday Night" – 3:12 # "Hand Clap" – 1:53 # "Give and Go" – 2:53 # "Bounce That" – 3:23 # "Warm It Up" – 2:15 # "Double Pump" – 1:45 # "Overtime" – 2:15 # "Peak Out" – 3:20 Samples "Once Again" * 0:00 ‒ 1:24 — Ciara featuring Petey Pablo – "Goodies" * 0:00 ‒ 1:35 — 'N Sync – "Pop" * 0:09 ‒ 1:14 — Boston – "Foreplay/Long Time" * 0:10 ‒ 1:03 — Ludacris featuring Bobby Valentino – "Pimpin' All Over the World" * 0:31 ‒ 1:13 — Fabolous – "Breathe" * 1:14 ‒ 1:45 — Ying Yang Twins – "Wait (The Whisper Song)" * 1:20 ‒ 1:46 — The Verve – "Bitter Sweet Symphony" * 1:43 ‒ 2:39 — Young Jeezy featuring Mannie Fresh – "And Then What" * 1:48 ‒ 2:13 — Webbie featuring Bun B – "Give Me That" * 1:57 ‒ 2:05 — Oasis – "Wonderwall" * 1:57 ‒ 2:05 — Slim Thug featuring Pharrell and Bun B – "I Ain't Heard of That" * 2:05 ‒ 2:07 — Arrested Development – "Tennessee" * 2:18 ‒ 2:27 — Genesis – "Follow You, Follow Me" * 2:18 ‒ 2:28 — Boredoms – "Acid Police" * 2:29 ‒ 2:38 — Five Stairsteps – "O-o-h Child" * 2:38 ‒ 2:39 — Eminem – "Ass Like That" "That's My DJ" * 0:00 ‒ 0:31 — George Benson – "Breezin'" * 0:00 ‒ 0:31 — Young Jeezy featuring Mannie Fresh – "And Then What" * 0:00 ‒ 0:18 — Five Stairsteps – "O-o-h Child" * 0:09 ‒ 0:40 — Slim Thug featuring T.I. and Bun B – "3 Kings" * 0:31 ‒ 0:51 — Junior M.A.F.I.A. featuring The Notorious B.I.G. – "Player's Anthem" * 0:38 ‒ 0:52 — T.I. – "Bring 'Em Out" * 0:42 ‒ 1:02 — Lil Wayne – "Go D.J." * 0:42 ‒ 0:52 — Chicago – "25 or 6 to 4" * 0:53 ‒ 1:24 — Crime Mob featuring Lil Scrappy – "Knuck If You Buck" * 1:14 ‒ 1:46 — Three 6 Mafia featuring Young Buck and 8Ball & MJG – "Stay Fly" * 1:35 ‒ 2:07 — Foo Fighters – "My Hero" * 1:35 ‒ 2:03 — Bow Wow featuring Ciara – "Like You" * 1:36 ‒ 1:57 — Manfred Mann's Earth Band – "Blinded by the Light" * 1:57 ‒ 2:03 — Chingy featuring Snoop Dogg and Ludacris – "Holidae In" * 2:05 ‒ 2:07 — Paula Abdul – "Straight Up" * 2:06 ‒ 2:07 — James Taylor – "Your Smiling Face" "Hold Up" "Too Deep" "Smash Your Head" "Minute by Minute" "Ask About Me" "Summer Smoke" "Friday Night" "Hand Clap" * 0:00 ‒ 0:15 — Busta Rhymes – "Touch It" * 0:08 ‒ 1:22 — Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam – "Head to Toe" * 0:15 ‒ 0:52 — Sir Mix-a-Lot – "Baby Got Back" * 0:53 ‒ 1:38 — Gwen Stefani – "Hollaback Girl" * 1:07 ‒ 1:46 — The Rentals – "Friends of P." * 1:23 ‒ 1:51 — M|A|R|R|S – "Pump Up the Volume" * 1:46 ‒ 1:53 — Missy Elliott – "Pass That Dutch" "Give and Go" "Bounce That" "Warm It Up" "Double Pump" "Overtime" "Peak Out" Sampled artists 164 artists sampled on Night Ripper are thanked in the liner notes of the album. However, the list published in the album notes is incomplete—Girl Talk has stated that extremely minor elements were sampled from tracks he cannot remember. Curiously, artists such as DJ Funk and P.M. Dawn are also omitted despite having rather noticeable samples on the album. Release history Personnel Credits for Night Ripper adapted from album notes. * Gregg Gillis – music, production * Jonathan Schenke – mastering * Andrew "Andriu" Strasser – artwork References External links * Night Ripper on Wikipedia * Night Ripper on Illegal Tracklist * Night Ripper on the Illegal Art website Category:Night Ripper Category:Girl Talk albums Category:Studio albums